Die For You
by YouSentMeFlying
Summary: It's opening night of Romeo and Jules, and Clare decides to get her revenge on Asher. Alone.


**Another writer's block piece! Today is my two year anniversary on fanfiction, so I figured I could write something to post today. It took me three days to come up with an idea, and when I finally wrote it out tonight, the words were all wrong. But! I don't have time to rewrite it because of the Degrassi finale tonight. ;) I hope you'll like it anyway, and… I tried. That's all I can say. **

"I just don't want you getting hurt," he told her sympathetically. The cold spring breeze whipped around his charcoal hair viciously. Eli begged her not to go; he couldn't deal with himself if she was hurt because of him. He knew he should have never suggested them teaming up together to get back at Asher. Eli loved Clare more than anything, more than any girl he's ever known, and he realized just planning on something that could put her in danger was too much for the both of them.

Clare crossed her arms over her chest lazily, tears stinging at her baby blue eyes. "A little too late for that, don't you think?"

"Clare," he spoke lowly with a hint of disappointment in his velvet voice.

"I'm tired of feeling so horrible every day!" she cried. "I can't get those memories out of my head. I see him every time I close my eyes…"

He shrugged his heavy shoulders, frustrated. "I don't know what you want me to do!"

She reached out to grab his wounded hand between her shaking palms. "Come with me!" she shouted emotionally. Eli hissed in pain at the contact with his injured knuckles. "You said we would do this together! You said!" she was an emotional wreck, tears streaming down her flushed face. She needed him, and he didn't seem to show any type of concern or interest whatsoever. They were supposed to be all in with this relationship, but it was like Clare was the only one putting any effort into it all.

He slapped her hands away from the girl gently, being careful not to hurt her in any way. "The play is about to start…"

"Then cancel it!" she yelled, receiving nothing but a low scoff from her boyfriend in return.

"I worked so hard on this play; I'm not just going to cancel. You don't have to be supportive of my success, but I'm not giving up on opening night. I fought for this!"

Clare glanced away from him; she couldn't even stand to look at Eli right this moment. "Do you even care about me at all?"

"Of course I do, Clare! Do you hear yourself right now?" he paused for a brief moment to attempt overcoming his anger, but he was too stressed to deal with her drama right now. "You're overreacting… making this whole situation worse than it really is. Maybe you should just come inside and watch the play that your magnificent boyfriend worked day and night on for _months_!" he watched as her expression turned from sad to angry. "We can talk about this after closing. I promise."

"You're so selfish," Clare laughed pathetically as Eli reached out to caress her soft cheek, brushing away the tears she's let fall. "Forget it." she threw his hand away from her, storming off down the sidewalk as she muttered, "I'll just do it myself."

Just as he was about to go run after her, he felt a heavy hand clamp down on his stiff shoulder. "Show starts in five, dude," Adam reminded him with a soft smile. "You ready for Romeo and Jules to be a Degrassi hit?"

Eli put on the happiest expression he could manage as he turned around to trudge up the front steps with his best friend at his side. "I have a feeling this will be bigger than Dracula from a while back." Dracula was one of the greatest plays the Degrassi students had pulled together.

"Even greater than the amazing production of Hamlet?" Adam questioned. The best production to ever be showcased at Degrassi? Eli could only hope he could be half as amazing as that play was so many years ago. And he certainly hoped this play would be way better than Love Roulette, which he wrote last year, based off of his and Clare's messy relationship.

As a matter of fact, he was beginning to believe their relationship this semester was following along the script of Romeo and Jules, which clearly didn't end well for either protagonists. But tonight wasn't the right time for him to worry about their affiliation being put in jeopardy. Eli couldn't keep pushing everything away and putting Clare ahead of all of his other priorities. School and hard work above all else, including girls, is what he was taught his entire life. He wasn't going back on that now.

xxx

Clare made her way into the empty office of "The Interpreter", being sure to scan her leftover key card and tapping in the alarm code before officially beginning her task. With Eli deciding to flake out on her, she figured it would be more time consuming, being as she was completing the job of two people. This wasn't going to go as well as she had originally planned and expected.

She slogged over to Asher's office, and quietly slid through the door which he never kept locked. She only had co-op here for a little under a month and she knew her way around Asher's office pretty well. She figured it was because he called her in to have "meaningful" and "inspiring" conversations more than he demanded her to get to work. Even as determined as she was the entire time, it was like Asher's plan all along was to move in on her straight from the beginning. She should have realized the second he started calling her by that sketchy pet name "Newsie". Everything he pulled with her was so _West Drive _that she couldn't believe it!

xxx

"I wanted to thank all of you for coming out tonight!" Eli's loud voice echoed through the gymnasium over several amps set up around the stage. "If it were up to me, I would personally acknowledge you all for being here this evening, but unfortunately; it's only an hour long show." The packed room was filled with a light flow of laughter at his joke. Becky Baker, who sat in the front row, could only roll her eyes at this. He was already ruining her favourite play and it hadn't even begun yet. She couldn't wait to finally get the revenge on him that he rightfully deserved; this was an abomination! "All of our actors are _very_ excited to come out and take the stage, as they've worked incredibly hard on this project!" Mr. Simpson, who was sitting beside Becky and Dallas, gave him the signal to speed up the opening. "But without further ado, I give you the original musical – Romeo and Jules – written and directed by Elijah Goldsworthy!" he made an exit at stage right, the curtains splitting down the middle as a beautiful melody on a piano began playing.

xxx

"Oh, my god," Clare gasped. Her fingers were clacking viciously at the desk keyboard of Asher Shostak's office computer. She'd discovered a whole folder full of photos of young women tied up with grey duct tape and blindfolded with a work tie. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, but what surprised her even more was the fact that no one had ever uncovered these pictures before her. How was that even possible? There had to be pictures of at least twenty different girls in this folder, none of their faces being clearly made out.

She silently prayed to God for thanking Him that she got away from Asher before anything more serious and dangerous could have happened to her if she didn't. Once Eli finds out about this, he's going to really regret not being there to help her through it all; at this point, she could care less if he killed that bastard for everything he's done to these poor, innocent girls.

Suddenly, a loud door slamming shut forced Clare to jump in her seat. She thought no one was supposed to be at the office tonight, but she must have been wrong, and now she was about to get caught. She just really hoped it would be anyone except for – "Clare?" her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice, followed by the office door being locked behind the mystery man. Her breathing hitched as she quickly closed out of the disturbing photos.

xxx

"This is ridiculous!" Becky whispered in a hiss. "I still don't understand how this school can be so darn messed up to allow something like this to be flashed around! It's like they're promoting homosexuality as a great lifestyle. This is so wrong."

"Becky, would you shut your face?" Luke joined in, annoyed, beside his younger sister. "You've done nothing but complain about this damn play for months. Just shut the hell up and watch the show."

Becky huffed, slouching down in the seat as she forced her eyes to lock themselves on Tristan and Dave. "Watch your mouth," she mumbled toward Luke. She knew she should have taken all of this up with the school board as soon as Eli announced he was making several changes to the story. It's so wrong of him to screw up _her _production like this; he had no right.

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" Tristan shouted dramatically, facing up towards the audience as a rush of nausea suddenly hit him. "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love…" Tristan hesitated. "be but sworn my love…" he cursed lowly beneath his breath, forgetting one of the most important lines of the entire play. He thought he had gotten all of this down, but now as he stood here before a room full of people, he choked.

Out of the corner of her eye, Becky caught Eli throwing his copy of the script against the wall and shouting out several profanities. "And I'll no longer be a Capulet!" Becky whispered toward Tristan, receiving a thankful nod from the actor, repeating the line confidently.

"Shall I hear more?" Dave spoke lowly, tapping his chin in deep thought. "Or shall I speak at this?" The music started up again, and the sound rumbled over the gymnasium as Dave broke out in song. "I take thee at thy word; call me but love, and I'll be new baptized. Henceforth, I never will be Romeo."

"What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night, so stumblest on my counsel?"

"By a name! I know not how to tell thee who I am."

xxx

"Asher!" Clare exclaimed, bouncing up from the chair as quickly as she could. She slowly reached into her back pocket to pull out her phone and open an app slyly.

He took a few steps forward, which made Clare back up so she was almost lying atop of his cluttered desk. With a loud roar of anger, he demanded, "what the hell are you doing here?"

She smiled nervously and stared into his bright blue eyes intently, concocting a plan up in her head without making it too obvious. Clare was never too good at acting, but she tried her best not to get caught; her life was on the line, after all. "I came to see you… I did some thinking, and you were right." She smirked. "Why should I run away from my feelings when I know exactly what I want?" she was shaking uncontrollably now, but she hid it pretty well, shaking her auburn curls from her face softly.

"I fired you!" he growled. "You have no right to be here."

Clare pressed her finger up to his lips, indicating she wanted him to shut the hell up. And she lowered her voice seductively, quoting the exact thing he told her no longer than a month ago. "No one needs to know…" she dropped her hand, and pressed the 'record' button on her phone before placing it down on the desk. But she backed away from him more as he reached out to cup her face. She didn't want it to look like it was staged on camera, but at least she knew she had him right where she wanted him.

"You look so beautiful…" Asher whispered into her ear. He was all for playing her little game as long as she agreed to keep her mouth shut, perhaps he would even consider giving her placement back. His hand traveled down to her breasts, and he leaned in to kiss her when she turned her face away, terrified. What the hell was she getting herself into? "What are you doing?" he questioned, positing his lower abdomen so he was pressed between her legs. "Playing hard to get?" he smiled deviously.

"No," she cried, pressing her hands on his chest in attempt of shoving him away, but he was too strong for her. She was wondering how far she needed to go before this plan would work out the way she wanted it to. "Get off of me!" her scream was piercing, which made Asher cover his palm over her mouth. He was just as confused as Clare was – she really should have thought out her plan before making a spontaneous move. "Stop!" her voice was muffled by the block of his flesh, but he leaned down to press open-mouthed kisses along her neck nonetheless.

Clare was truly frightened now and she just wanted to get out of this office to go somewhere safe. Eli was right, this was so dangerous for her and she never should have come digging for evidence. Even if she had the evidence to take him down, she didn't know if it was even somewhat worth it anymore. This was more than just a little price to pay at getting her revenge. She saw how Darcy acted, she knew how she felt, and the attempts of suicide after what had happened to her a few years ago. And just Clare being slightly harassed was enough for her to go insane; she couldn't handle any of this.

Abort mission.

She sunk her teeth down in Asher's hand, hard enough for him to let up on her lips, but instead he flicked his hand toward her face to backhand her forcefully. "You bitch!"

"I'm recording this!" she shouted. "I'm recording everything! "

"What?" he stared at her in disbelief. After working with Clare, Asher knew she was a smart girl, but he never thought she would be smart enough to set him up like this.

He backed away from the girl, which made her run towards her phone and lock the screen. The video was safe, but she forgot Asher had locked the two of them in his office alone together. Did she have any way of getting out of here?

Clare watched him pick up a pair of scissors and aim them toward her. She's never been more scared in her life, and she didn't think anything else would be able to top this. "Give me the phone. Now." He inched closer to her, extending out the scissors so the open blades were up against her throat. "Give me the phone before I slice your goddamn throat open." He wasn't willing to risk his job for some stupid, pathetic whore. None of this was his fault!

"It has a passcode."

"What is it?" he demanded, reaching for her phone, though she just whipped it behind her back. She was holding onto this evidence for as long as she had to. He was going to kill her anyway, so it shouldn't make a difference right now.

"Kill me," she growled through clenched teeth. "I dare you."

Following her request, he found himself slashing the blades forward.

xxx

"It won't take another summer, another spring, another fall. Now that I have you, I don't need anything at all."

Everyone backstage was hurriedly scrounging together the props for the next scene, noticing that some of the pieces they needed were missing from the prop table.

"Can anything else go wrong?" Eli shouted over the sound of slow piano music coming from the stage.

They were about halfway through the play and suddenly everything seemed to be either missing or tampered with. Each and every crew member had blamed Dallas and Becky for this mess, even though Becky has been in her seat the entire night, along with Dallas being watched by Mr. Simpson. There was no sign of forced entry into their cases, or any type of vandalism, so it must have all just been screw ups on their part, with no one else to blame.

"Eli, Helen Edwards is on the phone," Ms. Oh informed him. "Something's happened…"

**Now I must go watch Hollywood Heights and prepare myself for the finale. **


End file.
